Former Manchester United and Everton forward Wayne Rooney has spoken about the time he rejected Chelsea.
The young attacker came through the ranks at the Toffees when he was a teenager, before moving to United and enjoying the best years of his career with the Red Devils.
However, Rooney admits that he could have gone to Chelsea before United even made a move for him as a teenager.
"From my point of view, ideally, I would have liked to have stayed [at Everton] for another year and see where we went from there," he told Toffees TV.
"When the [2003/04] season finished, the club had tried to do a deal with Chelsea for me, without me knowing.
"When I found out, I was fuming.
“I remember speaking with my agent and telling him that if they're going to sell me, I should have a say in where I go. I don't want to go to Chelsea.
“I didn't want to leave at the time but once I knew they were trying to sell me, I thought 'ok'.
"I injured my foot at the Euros and went on holiday afterwards. When I came back, Everton wouldn't let me train, in case I got injured, because they wanted to sell me. I left and took a lot of stick over leaving but I don't think the club were too innocent either."